


and the sea is calling me, love

by oisugasuga



Series: Seawater and Oranges [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Drowning, M/M, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:23:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9307160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oisugasuga/pseuds/oisugasuga
Summary: For a few, heart-pounding seconds, the two of them stare at each other, the man’s dark hair falling over his forehead, stiff with saltwater, his eyes the color of the sea amber stones Suga sometimes finds buried in the sand underneath the kelp forests.Suga watches those eyes grow large with astonishment and incredulity, watches the man’s gaze slowly, slowly move down from his face to his shoulders, past the tense, flat expanse of his stomach, until it reaches the slender curve of his waist, the sliver of skin where Suga’s tail starts, the ivory melting into pale green.





	

Suga huffs out a breath, pushes his wet hair back from his face, blinks seawater from his eyelashes, his arms aching.

 

_"Stupid human,"_ he thinks furiously, staring down at the unconscious man beneath him, the one he had dragged from the roaring waves, the one who had been foolish enough to go out in such a storm.

 

The human is pale, his blue-tinged lips parted even though he isn’t breathing, a nasty gash across one cheek, sticky blood staining his skin, and Suga leans down quickly, presses both webbed hands against his chest and begins to push in sharp, short bursts.

 

When nothing happens after half a minute goes by, Suga’s fingers flutter around the man’s face, panic settling into his limbs, thick and black and cold, like the depths of the ocean that he is forbidden to swim into.

 

He doesn’t know how to do this. The one and only time he has seen a human in this same circumstance had been years ago, when he had snuck after his mother, a game to him as a child because she had told him to stay put, to sleep, that she would be back before the sun rose above the horizon. 

 

Instead, he had followed the glimmer of her amaranth tail through the waves, the moon edging the water with silver that crested into white tips, until they reached land, until they reached a beach that Suga had never visited before, the sand smooth and unbroken until his mother had dragged someone up onto it.

 

Suga will never forget watching his mother cry over the man’s body, her hands pushing at his chest and then her mouth covering his until he had jerked violently, had thrown up brine and sand, had laid back down and reached up with a trembling hand to push his mother’s hair back from her face, the two of them talking in tones that were too low for Suga to make out over the crash of the waves.

 

Later, when a few years had passed and Suga’s mind had forgotten about the night he had followed his mother to the shore, she would tell him the truth, would hold his hand and confess that the man had been Suga’s father, that he had left in the time since that night, to a life he belonged to, to escape the sea and its bittersweet memories, the images of a girl who had turned human for a while until she could no longer resist the pull of the ocean.

 

Maybe that’s why Suga had decided to swim out into a sea flashing with lightning, with waves as large as the colorful coral reefs he loved to swim around in his free time, his own strong tail struggling to maneuver him over to the tiny boat he had watched capsize moments before.

 

Maybe that’s why Suga had searched and searched, the water crashing down onto his head and shoulders, until he had spotted the flash of pale skin, the glint of what looked like larchmere-colored sea glass, and had swam for it fiercely, had hooked both arms under the man’s and tugged and pulled until his muscles screamed and his throat ached with salt.

 

Maybe that’s why he’s still here, tipping the man’s chin up and trying to remember the motions his mother had gone through so long ago, lowering his mouth to his still face and thinking, _"Air, humans need air."_

 

Suga presses his lips to the ones below him. They’re dry and chapped, rough, and Suga tastes the copper tang of blood, the bite of sea salt, against his tongue, blows the air in his own lungs into the man’s mouth, remembers that his mother had held his father’s nose shut when she had bent over him, and raises trembling fingers to do the same.

 

He breathes into the man’s mouth twice, pulls back, pushes at his chest, watches for any sign that this is working, that anything he’s doing is right.

 

Nothing but closed eyes and damp eyelashes, a few grains of sand lingering across one of the man’s cheek, glittering in the watery light of the cove.

 

Suga grits his teeth in frustration, swallows the noise of desperation he wants to voice out loud because it’s no use, no one would listen, no one but the growling waves would hear his voice in this tiny, half-space of water and rock and sand.

 

Instead, he ducks back down, blows out as much air as he can manage, ignores the frightening chill of the man’s mouth, pumps his chest with shaking hands, repeats the motions once, twice, three times, tears burning the backs of his eyelids.

 

His heart pounds sickeningly against the base of his throat, his movements eventually slowing, the first drops of water falling from his eyes and wetting the man’s chin, sliding down the length of his throat to rest in the hollow of his clavicles.

 

He’s too late, hadn’t gotten to the man in time, hadn’t swam fast enough, couldn’t save him.

 

Suga grips his own chest with his hands, right over the ache that suddenly threatens to tear him apart from the inside out, his breath coming in staccato bursts as his vision darkens, despair settling over him as he stares down at the man’s silent figure, as a sob crawls its way up his throat and escapes him, the cry echoing off of the dark, algae-covered walls.

 

His eyes settle on the man’s chest, on the odd material covering his torso, some second skin that is striped different colors, and then on the glimmer of the glass he had seen before, in the water, a piece of sea glass that has been smoothed by the waves and that lies against the man’s heart, held there by a thin cord that hangs from his neck.

 

Suga’s breath hitches as he cries, his hand moving subconsciously to trail fingers over the shard, but just as his fingertips brush the glossy surface, the man jerks, sitting straight up and choking, his forehead cracking against Suga’s, who can do nothing but suck in a sharp breath in shock and reel backwards, slipping off of the man’s legs and crawling backwards on his hands, losing his balance for a split second, his right elbow scraping along the ground painfully, watching in breathless disbelief as the man vomits into the sand, water expelled from his lungs, his breathing ragged.

 

Suga is stunned into stillness, unable to move, his tail lying motionless along the sand, the sea-foam green scales catching the dancing luminescence that lights up the cove from the opening in the ceiling, the flared end of it inches away from the man’s hands as he rolls over onto his hands and knees, coughs into the sand and then slowly looks up, his chest heaving, his eyes immediately finding Suga’s wide ones.

 

For a few, heart-pounding seconds, the two of them stare at each other, the man’s dark hair falling over his forehead, stiff with saltwater, his eyes the color of the sea amber stones Suga sometimes finds buried in the sand underneath the kelp forests.

 

Suga watches those eyes grow large with astonishment and incredulity, watches the man’s gaze slowly, slowly move down from his face to his shoulders, past the tense, flat expanse of his stomach, until it reaches the slender curve of his waist, the sliver of skin where Suga’s tail starts, the ivory melting into pale green.

 

A shock goes through Suga then, the sting running up the curve of his spine like the mind-reeling touch of a jellyfish, and it jerks him back to reality, leaves him choking out a gasp and then twisting to the side, intending to slip back into the waiting ocean so he can swim far, far away and forget any of this happened.

 

_"Never be seen."_

 

The one rule he has followed all his life, the one he had engraved into his heart and soul because even though no one but him and his mother knew the true identity of his father, even though no one else knew that Suga wasn’t completely and entirely from the sea, Suga still knew, still woke up every morning and remembered his human father, still felt the jarring pull of the land and the heartbreaking tug of the ocean, and vowed to never swim to shore again, to never break those three words.

 

But two things stop him now, prevent him from leaving.

 

One is the chaos of the sea, the waves towering and then crashing back down, rain pelting the roiling, plum and sapphire-colored surface and the wind howling as the cloud-covered, slate-gray sky flashes and crackles with electricity.

 

The storm has gotten worse in the time that Suga has been here, is too dangerous to swim in, even with the power of his tail behind him, provides too much of a risk of being thrown back and broken against the rocky crags surrounding the cove before he can reach deeper water, and Suga realizes with a sinking heart that he is stuck here, trapped in this small space with a human.

 

The second thing, the less important one, that wraps hesitance around Suga’s ribs in pale silver flowers, is the barely-there rasp of, "Wait," from behind him.

 

Suga turns around, dread and relief battling in his ribcage, his forehead aching from the hit, the brilliant yellow of solace painting the inside of his stomach in vivid streaks because he had been successful, the human is alive and breathing and awake, but clashing with the sickening fear of this, of being stuck in a cove with someone who shouldn’t even know that Suga exists.

 

The human has sat back, has crossed his legs in front of himself and is slumped over, dark shadows under his eyes, his second skin clinging to him, soaked through and darkened, and Suga shifts quickly, pulls his tail back towards himself, lets the feathered tip drift into the edge of the water, moving as far away as he can in the claustrophobic atmosphere.

 

For one breath that shudders through Suga, neither of them speak, just watch each other, Suga with a steeled expression that he hopes gives nothing away, his chin tilted up, regarding the human with narrowed eyes, the man with eyes that are bright with something close to wonder, his face open and triumphant despite the cut across his cheek.

 

And then…

 

"I knew you were real," the man breathes, his voice rough from nearly drowning but also glimmering with joy, with happiness, as if he wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here.

 

Suga blinks, taken aback, his stern expression slipping to reveal one of bewilderment, before he shakes his head, clamps his mouth shut, tries to even the shaky breathing in his lungs, his heart fluttering with trepidation.

 

He’s already beginning to feel uncomfortably dry, his scales itching to be back in the water, so Suga slides to lower his bottom half into the shallows lapping up into the cave, his gaze never wavering from the man.

 

The current soothes his mind, but as soon as he moves, the man lurches forward, one hand outstretched as if to touch him, and the momentary comfort is shattered, broken into a million glass-edged pieces.

 

Suga hisses, bares his sharp teeth in warning, coiling back on himself until his torso is in the water as well, the choppy waves farther out knocking his tail from side to side, and the man flinches, pulls back, his face immediately registering remorse.

 

"Sorry, sorry," he apologizes in a rush, biting at his lower lip hard, pearlescent teeth digging into the chapped skin. "I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I just-"

 

He cuts off, Suga lowering farther into the water, edging back until he reaches the drop-off between the cove floor and the ocean, still sheltered within the mouth of the cave, until the lower half of his face is submerged in the water and his eyes peer out at the man, solemn, serious, angry.

 

He suspects that the human doesn’t realize that he can’t leave either, that he’s just as trapped here in this damp-walled, algae and seaweed-covered prison, and his suspicions are proven true when the man continues to speak, his voice gentle, soothing, the way one would talk to a child.

 

"I don’t know if you can understand me," he says, keeping his amber gaze fixed on Suga’s light-gold one, "but I’m not here to do anything. Please don’t leave. I won’t move if you don’t want me to, I swear. Just please don’t go away."

 

Suga stays still, doesn’t make any move to come back up onto the sand, the wind ruffling his hair and the waves bobbing him up and down, and the man looks away for a second, and then back, a tentative smile lighting up his face, the water throwing flickering patterns across his features, across the straight line of his nose and the lovely cut of his jaw.

 

"I thought coming out in the storm would be my best chance at finding one of you," he explains with the excitement of a merchild who had found a new bale of sea turtles, Suga not registering the words at first until he does with slowly-dawning disbelief.

 

The man continues before Suga can wrap his head around it, before he can even try to understand the ridiculous, insane words.

 

"If one of you were nearby, I thought seeing a human in danger would get you to come to the surface, and I guess it did, huh? Just like The Little Mermaid."

 

Suga is stunned only for a moment more before white-hot fury surges through his limbs, his hands coming up to press both palms flat against the edge of the cove floor, hoisting himself up out of the water, his tail flicking behind him angrily, in short, narrow sweeps.

 

"I don’t know any little mermaids," he spits, thinking only about how he had risked his own life to save someone who had intentionally thrown himself into danger, thinking about this human’s family and how worried they must be, his vision clouding over and his voice quivering with outrage, "but if what you say is true, then you are truly much more foolish than I had initially believed."

 

And with that, Suga dives back down before he does something he’ll regret, like knock the human unconscious again, slapping his tail flat along the surface of the water to send a wave of seawater splashing over the man’s head, ignoring the range of emotions that flit over the man’s face in the split second before Suga disappears, astonishment, alarm, and above everything else, wonder, as if Suga is everything and anything.

 

The water doesn’t go very far down before it ends in sand and more jagged, obsidian rock, the foam of the waves crashing down a few yards away visible even through the murky darkness, and Suga stays there, curses his bad luck, grits his teeth in vexation, wonders if anyone from back home has realized he’s missing yet, and then tries to ignore the uncomfortable tingle in his shoulder blades when he remembers the expression of absolute awe on the man’s face before Suga had disappeared from view.

 

The only reason he isn’t leaving now is because of the storm, Suga tells himself stubbornly. Not because he feels responsible for making sure the human gets back to shore in the morning.

 

Maybe he won’t help the man once the waves quiet down, once the sun appears once more. Maybe he’ll just leave him here to get back on his own, a lesson to cure the human’s idiocy.

 

But as Suga sits at the bottom of the cove floor and draws aimless patterns in the white sand with a fingertip, he knows that’s not true.

 

_"Stupid human,"_ Suga thinks.

**Author's Note:**

> day 6 of oisuga week: stuck in a small space together
> 
> i decided that i'm going to write the final day of oisuga week (the free prompt) as a continuation of this fic, so more merman Suga and idiotic human Oikawa is on the way _〆(･･　)♪
> 
> tumblr: [hmu](http://oisugasuga.tumblr.com/)


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